The American Way
by Cee-face
Summary: It wasn't his fault if the teachers couldn't relate to his novel academic ideas. A look into America's classes during his enrollment at World Academy W. Gakuen.
1. First Period: English

"…making it an intransitive verb," finished the imposing blond as he highlighted his explanation with meticulous notes at the edges of the sentence.

A hand suddenly shot into the air out of Germania's peripheral, and he turned and sighed. With reluctance, the man prompted, "_Yes,_ America?"

America's hand fell back onto his desk with pronounced volume as soon as he was recognized, only for his other to raise up off of the flat surface and point vaguely at the board; Germania assumed he was talking about the example sentence. "You spelled 'color' wrong," pointed out the teenage nation boldly, without even a respectful "sir" or other form of proper address to his teacher. To his left, England's hand came up to his face with a soft smack, and Canada, seated behind him, sunk down in his chair as if embarrassed.

Germania fought the urge to sigh and turned, humoring America with the logic that maybe his old age was getting to him and he had written the wrong thing. Of course, this proved to be false, when he confirmed the distinct presence of the letter U near the tail end of the word. Given this fact, he turned to look back at America. "It's spelled correctly," stated the Germanic man dismissively with all intention to pick up his lesson.

"…but there's a U in it," protested the bespectacled country, apparently genuinely confused and not quite willing to let Germania go through with his plan to resume where he had left off. "You can't even hear the U. You should just leave it out."

Germania massaged the middle of his forehead with his first two fingers even as he registered at least one of England's brothers snickering from the back of the classroom. "If that's your opinion, America, you are free to have it," he started, "but it's not my concern how it ends up affecting your grade."

Restrained laughter rippled through the classroom and America continued to wear his bemused expression. "Well, my opinion is awesome, so does that mean my grade will be, too?" At this point, the confusion warped into an eager, triumphant grin. "Are you going to give me an A+ for coming up with such a genius new idea? Don't worry, when you teach it to nations in the future, you can have the credit!"

The held-back sounds of amusement in the classroom bubbled to a crescendo of hysteria, intermingled with the embarrassment of the humbler countries. The disruption carried on to fill the few minutes left before the bell rang and Germania shook his head, erasing the board to prepare for his next period. "Class is dismissed," he announced tiredly, though some of the students less eager towards academic endeavors were already halfway out the door.

America shoved his materials unceremoniously into his bag as England packed his neatly away, and as soon as the pair were out the door, England turned to fixate a stare that wavered between irritation and deadpan.

"_That's _why you're failing English, you stupid git."

* * *

**A/N:** so, um, well, this idea just sort of occurred to me when i was pondering Hetalia, because that is what i do, i ponder these things. and i was wondering; assuming in Gakuen-verse, World Academy W offered English classes, wouldn't they teach British English? or, well, maybe not British English exactly, but definitely not American English. of course, America (being America and all) would do his own thing, "the American way", and thus would probably be failing his English class, ahaha.

i picked Germania as the teacher because (from my admittedly very minimal research) English originated in that general area, which would make Germania one of (if not the) oldest nation to know English, and therefore the one to teach it to all the other nations. i apologize for any historical inaccuracy and also if his inclusion or his personality contradicts any canon or anything -- i'm not too familiar with his character, so um, i'm sorry if i messed anything up. :c also, England would totally be America's de-motivational English tutor.

i have some other ideas along these lines, with America in his classes and all, so keep an eye out for new chapters. c: Cee out!


	2. Second Period: Science

"Very good, France; right on the mark."

"Ah, _merci, Madame Grèce,_" answered the young Frenchman charmingly, flashing a self-assured grin over the top of his clipboard, which Ancient Greece had the kindness to humor. The flirtatious student, pleased, soon went to recording his data onto the paper fastened to the clipboard, so Ancient Greece moved on to check the progress of the other students' experiments.

Russia was the closest, so she paused at him, smiling amiably at the nation who was taller even than her. He was fiddling with one of his projectiles and was also smiling, though as he worked, it seemed a bit…unhinged. "How innovative, Russia," commented Ancient Greece as she observed him working and scrutinized the extra projectiles that had already been modified.

"Da, спасибо," the big-boned student answered in a far-off voice, childish smile fixated on his lips. "I am trying to beat America."

Ancient Greece took pause at this, and her smile evolved into a more sheepish incarnation of itself. "That…that's very good, Russia. Healthy competition can increase motivation." Patting his shoulder awkwardly, she pushed on to the rest.

It was a pleasant day for an outdoor lab -- the grass was springy and green and the wind carried a cool, balmy breeze over it; the sun illuminated the school grounds brightly between wide gaps of fluffy white clouds.

Her students were launching trial projectile after trial projectile into the marked field and writing down their findings with the clipboards provided. Naturally, some were doing better than others (France, as always, among the best of them, with Austria frustrated at how easily the blond man was doing things so precisely), and some were not. She had to pause to help fix Liechtenstein's broken launcher -- or, more accurately, to intervene as Switzerland tried to do so and almost entirely destroyed the thing in his frustration.

Just as Ancient Greece finished with the repair, a loud crash rang across the field and the class screeched to a halt. At first, she looked to where the noise had come from; at its source, she found the wreckage of _multiple_ projectiles curled and scattered around the framing of one of the sports goals.

"δεκάρα," mumbled the elegant woman quietly, quickly tracing with her eyes the path she assumed the objects had followed through the air. Louder this time, "What happened?"

The entire class, save for England, turned their eyes on a particular rowdy blond, whose gaze was transfixed in awe at the destruction he'd caused. "…_awesome!_" he declared boisterously after a moment, a huge grin splitting his face.

Ancient Greece felt a sigh leave her before her conscious had registered the desire to do so, and she slowly approached the country. "America," the Greek woman addressed him sternly before repeating, "What happened?"

America looked up towards her, the smile gone and replaced with an owlish look of curiosity. He stared at her for a moment, then his eyes traversed to his trashed experiment, and then back to her. "…you didn't see it?" the young man eventually queried, to delinquent snickers from the nearby students who were within earshot.

Ancient Greece's fingertips came to rest against her temple with her elbow supported in the opposite hand. "I see what happened," she conceded. "I want to know why." She noticed the abandoned chart in the grass at America's feet, and motioned to it with a beckoning raising of her digits. "Let me see your sheet."

He complied with the request and picked it up, presenting it to his dear science teacher. She took it and read over the chart, countenance growing more and more perplexed. "…America, dear…are you aware that this is recorded in fractions of _miles?_" The directions at the top clearly stated, "Use the universally-known metric system to record your data", so why in Hades had America decided to use this disjointed system?

A sun-kissed hand came up to adjust his glasses by the frame. "Well, yeah! What else would I use?"

The tanned woman frowned, letting the hand grasping the clipboard fall to her side. "Meters, perhaps?" she responded, though it was not a suggestion.

America screwed up his face. "Why would I do _that?_ We don't say 'meters per gallon'!"

Nor, Ancient Greece noted mentally, should they really even be using "gallon". "Get a classmate to help you collect the remainder of your data; I'll see you after classes so that you can clean up the goal before the sports teams have to use the field for practice," she instructed simply, returning the rambunctious nation's clipboard before turning and clapping her hands with the command for the rest of the class to get back to work and stop giggling.

America's fingers wound themselves in his hair to scratch at the back of his head as he approached England, who looked to be absolutely mortified. "Hey, help me out? I dunno what she wants me to do," he stated nonchalantly.

The bushier-browed of the two looked up from his fumbling with the launcher with a glare and a slightly flushed face. "The _metric system, _bell-end! I told you not to actually use miles in class!" he reprimanded in a flurry, trying to hide his embarrassment at being the one to teach America of the mile.

"Oh!" America jolted brightly as if struck with an epiphany. "…why would I do that?" he asked again, this time of his tutor, whose frustration was evident in the white of his knuckles as he attempted to reconfigure his off-kilter launcher. "Miles work just fine for me!"

England pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to count to ten in placation.

He felt so sorry for the teachers here sometimes.

* * *

**A/N:** and another one! i picked Ancient Greece as the teach for science because the ancient Greeks are where the science of measurement really started to surface, though i did also consider Ancient Egypt because of their scientific/mathematical advances. since the measurement thing was the center of this, though, i decided Ancient Greece would be better suited for it.

the France-being-good-at-the-work thing is because (again, to my limited understanding) the metric system started with the French Revolution and became a more universal thing from there, so i figured since it started with him, he'd have the best grasp on it, ahaha. then the Russia thing (which i forgot while writing this and had to add in afterwards, so i'm sorry if the flow is wonky) represents the whole space race deal. and the mile thing between England and America is due to the mile being notably more prevalent in those two countries compared to uh, everyone else, and what with tutor!England and all, i figured America had to learn it somewhere. ;

blabbery author's note is blabbery. oh well. see you next time~ c:


	3. Third Period: Cooking

England was rarely absent from classes unless the situation was dire, but a rough bout with his economy had left him feeling quite ill and unable to attend classes. He'd caught up fairly well in the rest of his classes, but his Culinary Arts class was quite another matter.

"So, England!" started America when their teacher dismissed them to begin working, an arm slung casually around his tutor's shoulder. "What are we making today?"

"Idiot, I haven't been here, how am I supposed to know?" England shot back, squirming in the grasp of America's absurdly strong arm. "Have you been paying attention at all while I've been out?"

"To the important stuff, yeah! I already know how to cook, though, so this class doesn't really matter," explained the superpower easily.

Finally pulling out of America's buddy-buddy half-hug, England glared at the younger nation. "All of your classes are important to being a nation," huffed the Empire sternly. "So I suppose you didn't write the recipe, either." Without waiting for an answer, England scanned the kitchens for a group that wouldn't mind helping them. "We could borrow a copy, I suppose…" Admittedly, he was a bit reluctant to ask for help, but since America had clearly hit his head as a child when England wasn't watching…

"Japan," England eventually decided, and the shorter student looked up upon being addressed.

"Yes, England-san?" questioned Japan as he set his ingredients on the counter.

"Would it be alright for us to borrow a copy of the recipe?" requested the United Kingdom, jerking his head towards America as he added, "Stupid git didn't write it down." Each group only needed one paper, after all, and Japan could use his partner's.

"Ah…" Though his expression scarcely changed, England could tell that Japan was pondering exactly how to continue. "England-san, it is a free day," the Asian island informed him after a moment.

England balked and immediately turned on America, who was cheerfully nosing around in their fridge. "A _free day?_ What are we going to make?!" They had to bring most of their own ingredients on free days, and otherwise were limited to what was in their kitchens. And clearly, since America didn't even know it was a free day, he hadn't decided what to make, which meant he brought nothing.

"Relax, Iggy~!" answered America with a jovial laugh, straightening up and turning his face out of the fridge to look at his mentor. "We'll wing it! The hero always pulls through, after all, no matter what the circumstances!" A thoughtful pause seized him for a moment before the grin came back at full force. "And the sidekick usually lives through it, so you'll be fine too!"

The bushier-browed of the blonds could hear France laughing from his kitchen -- he was the only one allowed to cook by himself, being a _culinary genius_ and all -- and England didn't have to look to know it was their predicament that was amusing him. Hmph. They'd get through this, and they'd make something delicious, and then they'd shove it in that damn frog's stupid, smug face.

The fire had been extinguished with no one harmed (though France's uniform suffered some battle wounds and one had to wonder if they were really accidental) and they would only need to replace one kitchen -- as well as England's dignity, while they were at it. The latter would probably be much more expensive.

"That was awesome! Gotta tell you, old man, I never would have thought you were such a natural at blowing stuff up!" America chattered excitedly at England's side, totally dense to his elder's mortification and the varying reactions of their classmates surrounding them in the hallway outside the Culinary Arts room.

"I-I didn't 'blow stuff up'!" objected the Kingdom indignantly. "It was the slightest conflagration which I could have handled if it weren't for _you _spreading it! You're not supposed to use water on grease fires, you ignorant twit! I would think you would know something like that, for how often you fry things beyond edibility!"

"Hah, give yourself some more credit, Iggy! I bet you set all your stuff on fire; I mean, there's no way it would taste so bad otherwise," reasoned the boisterous superpower.

"Y-you-- ungrateful brat! My cooking does not taste bad! Not like your tasteless, greasy monstrosities!"

"Excuse me," cut in a voice, and both boys halted their bickering to look up to their smiling teacher. "I'm sure you both know you've failed for today. And I expect to see you after classes, to help clean up the mess."

Off to the side, England heard France laughing again, and hung his head in embarrassment.

Stupid America and his need to cook everything in grease.

* * *

**A/N:** so, um, i wrestled with this one a lot. i don't really like it as much as the others; i wanted to go into detail with how the other nations would do in the class, and elaborate on exactly how America and England would screw up, but i felt like it would drag on forever if i did that. plus i couldn't think of who would be the teacher -- i thought maybe the Roman Empire, because of his grandson North Italy the Pickiest Gourmet Ever, but i couldn't find enough info on the history of cooking to make a comfortable choice, so i just NPC-ed the teacher this time around. and i guess this chapter focused more on England than it did America. ): bah. i might rewrite this one, but for now i really just want to get the concept out there so i don't forget about it, just in case i can't think of a better way to do it.

also i realized i definitely whacked out the Gakuen-verse a little. halfway through the Science chapter, i realized that America and Canada wouldn't be in the same class as England and Russia; they'd be in the North America class, while England would be in the Europe class and Russia would be with either Europe or Asia. i felt really dumb for forgetting about that, but i figured maybe the continent divisions are just like...homerooms or something, and the rest of the classes are mixed. in the continuity of this fic, that's how it's going to be (because i am dumb and fail, sob). so, uh, yeah.

i'm sorry for long, whiny author's note and for generic suck of this chapter. :c hopefully next one will be better.


End file.
